China’s battle with Omicron is just beginning

Zero Covid seems to be ending in China. After three years of pushing this policy, the message from the state has now changed: each person’s health is now their own responsibility. State media is emphasising ‘new evidence’ showing that Omicron has a lighter viral load than previous strains. Meanwhile, testing sites across the country are being dismantled and new vaccination targets have been set to protect the most vulnerable.

Some Chinese are bemused, asking themselves: ‘do protests work?’ The timing certainly suggests so – in the same week as student leaders were being rounded up, state media started talking about how Covid has no long term complications and quietly dropped the phrase ‘zero Covid’. Though there were earlier, tentative signs that the state was ready to end its zero-Covid policy. Last month, for instance, the State Council in Beijing released a list of 20 ‘optimisations’ for pandemic control (such as shortening quarantine).

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